Monday, March 2
This morning we have a long motorcoach ride to Uluru! It was a great opportunity to really get a grasp for how vast and unpopulated the Red Centre of the Northern Territory or Outback as it’s commonly called.
Mid-morning we had a stop at a typical Outback roadhouse which means it is a roadside service station. You can purchase food, drinks, use the restroom, and/or purchase gasoline.
Our lunch stop was at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Culture Centre. We had time to visit the galleries but no photos were allowed. They are Aboriginal owned and operated. The profits from these galleries are used back in the local community. They focus on selling traditional wooden carvings, paintings, and jewelry.
Uluru was our next stop. We toured Uluru by motorcoach and had a walking tour. It is a sacred Aboriginal site so there were places around the rock where tourists and photos were not allowed. Our guide explained the significance of the rock to the Aboriginal people. These natives inhabited this area centuries before the Europeans invaded in the 1800s. The local tribe is the Anangu. They believe that the landscape was formed during the “Dreaming”. The “Dreaming” refers to when the land and the people were created by the ancestor spirits. Ceremonies are still held in some of Uluru’s sacred caves around its base.
Our first glimpse of Uluru from the bus. 
Our Uluru site guide, Martin 
Rock Art with symbols, figures, and pictures 
More Rock Art 
More Rock Art 
And More Rock Art! 
Kitchen Cave 
Those flies are everywhere! 
What use to be the climbing path until it was prohibited. 
We checked into our hotel and later this evening we traveled to Uluru for the sunset over the rock. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy so the rock did not “glow” or change colors as they say from a vibrant orange to a deep red. We still enjoyed just sitting and viewing the monolith! We also had champagne and snacks. Unfortunately you had to dodge the many black flies.
Our group! 
One of the Aboriginal Artists selling her work.
